Of the dozen or so such machines I've looked at this
year, every single one was infected with some sort of Spyware. Three were
also infected with the Sasser worm and another two with custom key logging
trojans.

Now, I admit these machines were no random sample -
they were PCs that friends or relatives asked me to look at because they had
problems. Some of the problems were caused by the malware.

That said, I still expect the results would be
similar for most end uses' PCs. I expect most to be infected.

Old PCs running Windows 95 are effectively a lost
cause. Most haven't even got the processing power needed to run the
security products they need to defend themselves. Try running Norton
Internet Security 2004 on a 166 MHz Pentium! Many older Windows 98 PCs are
not much better.

But collectively, such machines account for almost
half of all PCs in use!

Let's get the full meaning of this straight: nearly
half of all PCs are effectively undefendable from malware infection.

When these PCs become infected, they come vectors for
infecting other machines. They become part of the problem. They make
the situation worse for all.

The situation for average folks buying new Windows
PCs in not much better. Almost every new PC sold today comes equipped with
Windows XP with Service Pack 1. That means it is missing every Windows Security
Patch issued since SP1 was released. That folks, was September 9,
2002. No, that's not a typo - September 9, 2002!

This negligence is outrageous, the implications
horrifying.

Take a single example. One of the many security
patches missing on new PCs is the one that prevents it from being infected by
the Sasser worm, a worm that you can get simply by connecting to the Internet.

And that's exactly what is happening to folks when
they connect their brand new PCs to the Internet after installation. I've
seen new PCs get infected less than a minute after first connection. A
subscriber recently told me that he's seen it take as few as 15 seconds.

With a bit of luck, these brand new PCs will have a
vendor installed anti-virus product. With even more luck, the AV
product's signature database may be sufficiently up to date to catch the Sasser
Virus.

But don't depend on it. All three Sasser
infected PCs I've seen this year were new, brand-name machines, with virus
scanners installed.

Here at Comp-U-Talk, Inc we specialize in creating secure PC's. Unless
you specifically request otherwise, we send your new computer home with the
latest Antivirus software fully updated, all security patches downloaded and
installed, plus we include a free "spyware detector". We even
take the time to show you how it all works, so you are comfortable with the
product when you get it home. Will we be the cheapest computer? No..
But we offer the best service for slightly more money and that is something we
are very proud of!